I will have to admit that the spanking in the video is excessive, and the daughter is a bit old for it, but I too was spanked with a belt as a child.
It's only a spanking....get over it
I had to give my kids a swat or 2 once. I never had to do it again.
I'm a firm believer that lack of swats in today's world is part of what's wrong with today's youth.

Having said that, I do think that it depends on the kid and the circumstance. I also believe in grounding, time outs, extra chores, and taking privileges away.

The unspoken rules for spankings is pretty cut and dry: never in anger, only a couple of licks, and it doesn't need to be that hard to be effective.

I agree that sometimes a swat on the butt might be necessary.. but a belt, in my opinion, is way too excessive. I too was hit with a belt when I was really young and I can't ever imagine doing that to my own child.. no matter what he did.

I'm a firm believer that lack of swats in today's world is part of what's wrong with today's youth.

Completely agree!

Kids have no fear of their parents anymore. Not that you should have to live in fear but as a kid I knew if I did wrong my dad was probably going to hit my a$$ and it kept you in line to not do stupid stuff.

If you really watch closely he isn't spanking her that hard. My dad used to spanking us like that, he knocked my tooth out when I was 15 but I wouldn't have traded him for the world. I can't come to any conclusion other then this guy lost his temper and went a
Title over board on his daughter. A 10 second video clip is to short to start making accusations aboutmthe father.

If you really watch closely he isn't spanking her that hard. My dad used to spanking us like that, he knocked my tooth out when I was 15 but I wouldn't have traded him for the world. I can't come to any conclusion other then this guy lost his temper and went a
Title over board on his daughter. A 10 second video clip is to short to start making accusations aboutmthe father.

I'm a firm believer that lack of swats in today's world is part of what's wrong with today's youth.

Completely agree!

Kids have no fear of their parents anymore. Not that you should have to live in fear but as a kid I knew if I did wrong my dad was probably going to hit my a$$ and it kept you in line to not do stupid stuff.

Couldn't agree more. I keep a ball bat with nails driven through it hung up on the wall in the family room so my kids can live in constant fear. Your kid screws up, say they get into a fight, you beat the sheet out of him/her to show them that placing your hands on another human being in anger is wrong.

Whether you think disciplining by spanking is right or wrong is a whole topic by itself. The question in this case for me is whether the spanking was corrective in nature. I'll let you guys discuss the legality of it. For me though, this spanking wasn't done with a heart of disciplinary correction...it was done out of anger which I believe is wrong. My child has received spankings but never without knowing why she was getting spanked and never out of anger. Discipline, whether spanking or otherwise, should be accompanied by a conversation about expected behavior. A beating for the sake of a beating or only out of anger/frustration with only embitter your child and make them learn to make decisions solely driven by fear. All that being said, there is an age where physical displine does not provide the best method for correcting behavior/expectations. I think that age is different for every child.

Need evidence why this was over the top & wrong? Instead of being a productive correction or guidance in a loving relationship between father and daughter, the incident (or more likely one in a long series of incidents) was enough to instill reciprocal anger and desire for retribution in the child; enough so that she was angry enough to capture it on video and then release it when she was no longer under his direct control years later. Didn't work out so well for him did it? This is FAILED parenting. The guy's a dick.

Sure glad fear wasn't predominant in the relationship with my dad. I respected him and stayed (mostly!) in line so as to not disappoint him, but fear did not play a big part.

If you see the full video you realize how crazy the dad and mom are. Both hit her. The dad leaves and comes back for more. I am surprised that the mom doesn't stop it. And if you listen carefully you can hear why she is being hit. Because she downloaded Kaazaa. Take her computer away. I always wanted to get spanked/hit as a punishment rather then the creative ways my mom used that weren't violent at all. Like putting the tv in storage for six months.

This guy is a sadistic scumbag coward POS. He comes in and starts beating a female CHILD with his belt. His scumbag wife comes in and gets in on it and he is so pissed that he can't keep beating her that he runs out to get another belt so he can come back and beat her some more.

Here's the whole video and its disturbing and disgusting! The man goes on for 5+ minutes beating his daughter. I got spanked and I spanked my children when they were younger (13,10,9 now) so I have no problem with it but this is abuse no question about it. If I saw an adult doing this to a child I'd beat the living schitt out of them. Violence like this against a child angers me to the core and I hope this MF'r gets it good!

There was a 'decorative' wooden paddle that hung the wall in our kitchen when I was growing up. It landed on my butt a time or two when I was misbehaving as a kid. Usually I was just spanked by hand, but on occasion I would get the paddle. My wife got the belt when she was growing up. We are both pro-spanking (though our kid is far too young to be spanked). With that said, that video was terrible! Completely beyond punishment, it was abuse.

There was a 'decorative' wooden paddle that hung the wall in our kitchen when I was growing up. It landed on my butt a time or two when I was misbehaving as a kid. Usually I was just spanked by hand, but on occasion I would get the paddle. My wife got the belt when she was growing up. We are both pro-spanking (though our kid is far too young to be spanked). With that said, that video was terrible! Completely beyond punishment, it was abuse.

I thought I was the only one who got beat with a paddle.Granted it was never with full force but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. I remember the day my dad bought it like it was yesterday. Of all places he bought it at six flags and let us know it was for our bottoms if we got out of line.

I am def pro spanking but tbh I don't know if I could ever bring myself to do it

Me too... a switch from the hedge!. Even a coat hanger once. But it wasn't very often. I got away with a lot more than I got punished for. Apparently in this case it was often and in a hostile environment. And I usually had a choice of accepting restrictions and always chose a beating.

Did he lose it yes, he should have never threatend to hit her in the face.

But I was a good kid because my dad used a big heavy fireman's belt that was hard as a rock and cracked up from being in the heat from all the fires. He only had to say it once and you got the point because you knew what was coming next.

read an article this morning...looks like the guy is off the hook criminally, due to statue of limitations. He wrote a long letter to a news agency..excerpts were posted online. f*cked up thing is he never apologizes....just says she posted the video b/c he reduced the amount of money he ws giving her and took away her mercedes. the guy crossed the line...too bad she didnt' do anything about it sooner.

What a POS. I watched litterly the first 3 hits and turned it off. If anyone thinks this is ok your are sorley mistaken. This is not ok. Kids do not deserve this, no matter what they do. That is a father that has lost his cool and is beating his child. This is child abuse, plain and simple.

Funny thing, I was spanked plenty of times but never with a belt. I was scared to death of my dad, in a good way not because I felt he would hurt me. I can say I have not spanked either of my kids, not because I am against it, but I have not had to. When I raise my voice and show them I am serious, there is no question about it. When I put my foot down, I do not waiver and that is the difference between me and a lot of parents. Most parents I watch - say one thing and do another. I also choose my battles on those times. I don't try to put my foot down on everything, just the things that are important to us.

Generally I am not against spanking, but like most of the group above, it needs to be corrective (relate the seriousness of the issue) and not in anger.

I am sure that if you taped most parents a fair amount of the time, we have all done stuff that we are not proud of. Parenting is a 24 hour job and there is no way we can all be the perfect parents for those 24 hours. Since the daughter knew this was coming though, this was probably a fairly common occurrence in her house.

No, not cained but a smaller version called a switch. We had a belt line in school (shop) where we (the boys) made two lines and the person in trouble had to run down it. The belts, unless hit with the buckle, didn't hurt that badly, but they did have a little sting. Again, there are two sides of the story. Notice the last parargraph http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/03...er-needs-help/

There may be two sides to the story... but his side is child abuse. No question. You wanna cite that the daughter is messed up enough to blackmail him or whatever that 'last paragraph' suggests... I'm gonna say it's no surprise she might be a slightly screwed up adult. I betcha it had something to do with the way she was raised.

This one kid I went to school with got talked in to stealing some money in a Unicef scam when we were 11 and his mother took an extinsion cord to his behind. Call it child abuse but he never stole anything again.

My parents also acted disappointed.... disappointed that they were about to WHOOP ME!
I've seen the video and a few short interviews w/the girl (now 22-24 yrs old). I have to say, the video alone is pretty rough. However, in each interview, the girl can barely wipe the grin off her face. She's taking pure joy in destroying her old man. and it is oddly coincidental that she waited until (according to stories) he cut her off financially for dropping out of college. I guess you could say that if it's bringing attention to the subject, it could be a good thing, BUT, we don't need to watch her destroy her father publicly to know that child abuse is wrong.
My point is, there are no less than 4 or 5 people who've already chimed in on this thread that they were treated as bad or worse, and haven't felt the need to destroy their parents lives.

^Well, maybe this story might make parents think twice before they grab an object and smack the crap out of their kid. Feel free to parent how you choose, but be prepared to face the consequences when you beat the sheet out of junior. There's just no way to justify that the dad was right regardless of the reasons the girl chose to share the video.

I don't have kids so I don't know the extreme difficulties with raising a child. I only know that I have been able to raise my dog from a wild puppy to a well behaved friendly dog without hitting her once. So, this has me wondering why it would be necessary to hit a child.

I don't see the judge being reelected in his next term. I do not see him supporting his 23 yo child financially anymore. I do see the girl getting beat regularly by her financially supportive new husband.

I saw this on TV last night, and thought it was pretty messed up. What was so disturbing about it was how angry and mean the dad and mom were acting. It was like a switch went off in the guys head and he went crazy. The girl has cerebral palsy and went through an "acting out" period when she was 9-10 and this was unfortunately a common occurance, but she purposely antagonized the dad during this one because she had the camera rolling. The reason she apparently posted the video was because her Dad took away her mercedes and her allowance. Turns out the dad is a judge, so Nancy Grace had one of her most epic field days of all time (if only someone would whip her with a belt). All she wants is for this guy to be removed from the stand but the local texan lawyers that she had on told her that whipping with a belt is actually legal in the county they live in in texas. She kept giving her opinion of what should legally happen and they just kept saying, "we understand what should happen but this was legal" and you could just watch her blood pressure rise with every argument against her. Unfortunately it didn't get high enough for her to have a stroke, so she will still be trying to ruin people's lives on television but karma will eventually catch up with her. The boob popping out during dancing with the stars wasn't enough.